The proliferation of distributed and interconnected computing systems has introduced a level of complexity into the process of accomplishing most information technology (IT) tasks, such as configuration, monitoring, and operations. Historically, this has been handled by dividing the functions among IT professionals and providing them with different sets of tools which did not have to be aware of each other. However, the systems these professionals have to manage have become much more dynamic, introducing another level of complexity in that these professionals/tools need to be constantly aware of each other.
Typical managed systems include large numbers of types of managed entities and large numbers of individual management objects of these different types. This results in a level of information overload that causes many system activities become cumbersome. An interface associated with an IT user can become so cluttered as to make it difficult to accomplish many IT related tasks.